Credit Suisse Makes a Return to Profit

Credit Suisse Group, which emerged from the financial crisis among the world's strongest banks, swung to a fourth-quarter net profit despite a slowdown in investment banking activity late last year that undercut the solid performance of its private bank.

Credit Suisse posted a net profit of 793 million Swiss francs ($742.5 million), compared with a loss of 6.02 billion francs ($5.62 billion) a year earlier.

Credit Suisse's private bank continued to show strength, having profited from the travails of rival UBS AG, which suffered from a battle with the U.S. over hidden accounts held by American taxpayers as well as huge losses by its investment bank.

Credit Suisse's investment bank posted pretax income, but also had a sharp drop in fixed-income and equities trading. However, Credit Suisse's chief executive, Brady Dougan, sees a pickup in activity this year.

"Our transaction pipeline is the best we've seen since the crisis," Dougan said. In particular, the bank sees a pickup in initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and leveraged finance activity this year.